Season Review: Jarred Vanderbilt

After a season marred by injuries, Jarred Vanderbilt’s absence proved his importance and how the Lakers don’t have anyone else like him.

Welcome to our annual Lakers season in-review series, where we’ll look back at each player on the team’s roster this season and evaluate if they should be part of the future of the franchise. Today, we take a look at Jarred Vanderbilt.

There may be no two words that keep sports fans up at night more than ‘what if?’

In a year that featured many, one butterfly effect moment came in the Lakers’ preseason opener, where Jarred Vanderbilt sustained a heel injury. Unbeknownst to anyone at the time, the eventually diagnosed left heel bursitis triggered a series of events that altered the trajectory of his and the team’s season.

Due to Vanderbilt ultimately missing 53 games in the regular season and all five postseason contests, the starting lineup was a constant work in progress. Early-year disorganization resulted in a hole in the standings, and the glaring 6’9” sized void on the depth chart became more apparent by the minute.

Perhaps the Lakers were always destined to run into the Denver Nuggets again. Those painful Jamal Murray daggers? Simply painful consequences of what was prewritten in the cosmos. Fate proved too powerful for the team’s will.

While Vanderbilt’s availability alone may not have rewritten the Lakers’ ending, it likely would have clarified the chapters before. Determining how much so will be an important question the Lakers need to answer ahead of another pivotal summer.

How did he play?

When — an important distinction — Vanderbilt did play this season, he showed exactly what makes him so impactful, but also, a paradox.

On defense, Vanderbilt flashed the versatility that initially attracted the front office to trade for him. Between his size, length and agility, the Lakers’ Swiss Army knife guarded multiple positions, including the opposition’s best perimeter threat, something that arguably no other player on the roster was capable of or trusted to do.

Vanderbilt also made an impact through his work on the margins. Whether it was crashing the glass, playing with immense motor, or simply doing the dirty work, the 25-year-old filled the gaps. It was this blue-collar approach that was sorely missed when he was sidelined.

As strong as Vanderbilt is in doing the intangibles, he is, unfortunately, equally limited on the offensive end. Primarily designated to the corners or the dunker spot — which accounted for 88% of his shots — Vanderbilt was a non-factor in the half court as he registered a minuscule usage rate of 11%, ranking in the 14th percentile among bigs, and a well below-average 54.6% eFG% this season.

Heading into the year, there were rumblings that Vanderbilt had worked on his 3-point stroke enough he’d keep defenses honest. Instead, he once again struggled. Vanderbilt shot just 28% from three on the year and has yet to make a non-garbage time above the break attempt in his career.

It was not all bleak, however. When Vanderbilt eventually returned from injury, he and the team made key adjustments to help extract offense from him.

One of the main ways they accomplished this was by involving Vanderbilt directly in the play rather than stashing him away from it. As the screener, specifically, this kept the Lakers’ spacing intact while also creating short-roll opportunities for Vanderbilt to exploit.

The results were immediate. From the start of January and before his eventual season-ending injury, Vanderbilt had the best scoring stretch of his young career, shooting 77% at the rim, 54% from three and posting an eFG% of 67.4%

It remains to be seen if this was a potential turned corner or blip, but any offense Vanderbilt can provide going forward will be icing on the cake, given how much he helps the team everywhere else.

What is his contract situation moving forward?

Vanderbilt is entering the first season of the four-year, $48 million contract he signed last summer. The extension, which includes a $13.3 million player option in the final year, runs through the 2027-28 season when the forward will only be 28.

Between his age, popularity and team-friendly AAV (average annual value) amidst a growing salary cap, Vanderbilt’s deal carries the potential of being one of the most desirable on the Lakers’ books. This will especially be the case if he can make significant strides in what should be the prime years of his career.

Teams can never have too many lower-to-mid-sized contracts that also play with the level of enthusiasm that Vanderbilt does on their capsheet. That’s something the Lakers can comfortably sell themselves or to another team.

Should he be back?

Although it wasn’t the season Vanderbilt or the Lakers envisioned for him this year, his absence made the hearts of all those involved grow fonder.

An example of not knowing what you have until it’s gone, there is no other player currently on the roster with Vanderbilt’s combination of his size and specific abilities. And that was made evident when he was unavailable. Because of this, the Lakers need Vanderbilt to be healthy — and back — next season.

Like any Laker not named LeBron James or Anthony Daivs, there is the possibility that Vanderbilt finds himself on the trade block, however. Given the team expected to be aggressive in retooling this summer and Vanderbilt’s aforementioned attractive contract and his plug-and-play game, rival teams could look to try and steal him away.

Regardless of what direction the Lakers take this offseason, finding a way to keep a low-maintenance player with Vanderbilt’s defensive prowess could prove paramount to shoring up the roster now and later.

All stats courtesy of Cleaning the Glass unless otherwise stated.

You can follow Alex on Twitter at @AlexmRegla.